Five bricks and mortar players who are dispelling the retail apocalypse myth

RTIH is taking a stand against the recent barrage of ‘high street is dead’ mainstream media headlines. Don’t believe the hype. Here are five tech-savvy companies reinventing physical retail for a digital age.

1. Dunelm

Dunelm’s strong start to FY2019/20 continued into its second quarter, with the retailer remaining resilient in a challenging homewares market.

Chief Executive Nick Wilkinson said the company’s new website was key to its success. “The launch of our new digital platform during the quarter marked an exciting milestone for us,” he commented.

“The transition to a modern, flexible, cloud-native platform has already improved our customer experience and will allow us to step change our retail innovation capabilities going forward. Our customers have responded well to the new website during Christmas and winter sale trading.”

2. The Co-op

The Co-op has selected ACI Worldwide’s fraud management solution ReD Shield as it ramps up its online expansion plans.

The two have worked together on several initiatives in recent years. ACI’s mobile payments technology underpins Co-op’s Pay-in-Aisle app, which was launched in 2018. The retailer uses ACI's UP Merchant Payments Solution for its card processing operations and to secure payments data through Point-2-Point Encryption (P2PE). ACI also runs a cloud-based wallet service for the retailer’s loyalty membership scheme.

3. Watsons China

Watsons China is set to deploy Tencent’s WeChat Work platform and Cloud Stores in its 3,800 stores during Q1.

This is a communication channel in which customers can add store staff as WeChat friends, who then become their personal beauty consultants. If a product is not available from a customer’s nearest branch, staff members can help to order the item in the Cloud Store system. It is also possible to get orders delivered through courier, Click & Collect or Watson China’s 1-Hour Flash Delivery service.

4. Walmart

Walmart recently picked up the Most Innovative Retailer (Rest of World) gong at the first ever RTIH Innovation Awards.

And so far this year, we’ve had Bossa Nova Robotics bringing its shelf-scanning inventory robot to 1,000 Walmart stores in the US. And a Walmart supercenter in Salem, New Hampshire, now fully operational with the retailer’s Alphabet solution.

5. Mountain Equipment Co-op

Finger Food Advanced Technology Group has developed an augmented reality app for Canada’s largest outdoor retailer Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC).

This takes customers into a range of virtual tents, allowing them to explore the company’s full range, saving MEC the considerable floorspace that 50 tents might have taken up. Learn more about it here.